


on the long way home

by DolewhipDay



Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Being Lost, Canon-Typical Violence, Danger, F/M, Frenemies, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 19:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7375006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DolewhipDay/pseuds/DolewhipDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Commander Peepers and Sylvia find themselves stranded together on a remote new planet, it looks like this whole 'buddies' thing could actually happen. It just needs a little time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	on the long way home

What on Earth was _she_ doing here? Of all the rotten luck…

Peepers retreated into the bushes before Sylvia could see him. Though the Zbornak was obscured from his vision, he could still hear her, cursing an empty bottle of Orbble Juice. It could have been an interesting opportunity to try and capture the troublesome enemy, but… Well, in truth, Peepers wasn’t much better off than Sylvia right now. He’d decided to handle this retcon mission on his own; gather intelligence on this new planet that had come to life in the wake of Dominator’s demise. Thing was, the Skull Ship should have been by to get him about two hours ago.

Peepers had to admit, it was strange to see Sylvia without the little orange lunatic. He wondered if they’d parted ways; facing Wander without Sylvia’s muscle would definitely make life easier. But yeah, what were the odds that _those two_ would separate?

“Unimportant!” Peepers hissed to himself. “I’ve got to find a way off this planet, and fast!” After all, it seemed uninhabited and perfectly safe… A brilliant planet for Lord Hater to quickly conquer, and in doing so, starting his reign over the reborn galaxy. But if Wander came for Sylvia before the Skull Ship got there – and Wander _would_ come for Sylvia, let’s face it – Lord Hater would be totally distracted by the freak’s presence.

Alright, what could he do here? Peepers began pacing back and forth, taking a longer stride in each direction every time, until he walked right into something hard and… Blue.

Oh, flarf it all.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Sylvia snorted, glowering down at Peepers. The little guy folded his arms over his chest and looked away.

“I’m not answering that,” he said simply.

“Well, given that I haven’t seen any of the other little Watchdogs around here… I’m going to guess you were staking out this planet, and they forgot about you.”

Sylvia couldn’t explain, exactly, what it looked like when an eyeball blushed. But it was definitely amusing – especially when it meant she was right, and got to be smug.

“Well, what about you and the ‘narbling Orbble Juice’?” Peepers shot back. “Face it, we’re in the same boat!”

Sylvia rubbed her temples. Of all the enemies she could have been stuck here with, it had to be the one with the shrillest voice. “Okay, okay, look. You may have a point there, so… Maybe we can team up just _one_ more time to get off this ugly rock.”

Peepers looked around. With its lush plant life, it was actually a very nice planet, but he understood that Sylvia was just frustrated. Regardless, did he really want to work with Sylvia? No, of course not. Did he really have an option, though? He’d test the waters... “What are you suggesting?”

“Well, this place has all kinds of plants. Maybe we can find an Orbble Tree.”

“A what now?”

“Orbble Juice has to come from somewhere, doesn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t that make it more of an Orbble Sap?” Peepers pointed out. Sylvia glowered once again, and he shrugged. “Well, it would. But fine, let’s look. It can’t be that bad.”

“Yeah, there’s the spirit.”

The two headed into the more dense forested area of the planet, shuffling along in a strained silence for a while, until Peepers asked, “So what does an Orbble Tree look like?”

“Silver. Rubbery. Short, for a tree. Not _you_ -short, of course, but – ”

“Oh, ha ha.”

Sylvia rolled her eyes, and silence reigned over the two once again, for quite some time now.

Being quiet probably served them well when the rumbling started. The two stranded aliens looked at each other.

“Okay, now was that a natural disaster kind of sound, or a terrifying monster kind of sound?” Sylvia asked. Peepers looked at her incredulously.

“Why would I know?”

“You’re the braniac here.” Peepers did look a bit proud to be called that, which made Sylvia shake her head. “Don’t get so cocky if you don’t even know the answer.”

“Whatever,” Peepers grumbled, deflating. “Let’s just keep moving. Whatever it is, I doubt it’s good news.”

Sylvia laughed. “If Wander were here, he’d be saying the exact opposite.”

“Well, of course. He’s insane,” Peepers sighed. Sylvia swept her tail under Peeper’s feet from behind, causing him to fall to his rear. “What? Come on, you know that he’s an idiot!”

“Sure, he can be, but _you_ don’t get to call him that.”

“Suddenly so touchy.” Peepers shook his head. He then yelped as something wrapped around his ankle. “Jeez, since when do you get so offend – ”

That wasn’t Sylvia’s tail, was it? Judging by the way the Zbornak was backing off, it definitely wasn’t… Peepers slowly looked over to see something very simian, very brightly colored, and _very_ large leering at him. Its glowing green eyes were locked on him, and despite the fact that they were enemies, as Peeper let out a scream of shocked terror, he couldn’t _believe_ Sylvia was just leaving him like this.

The creature grinned, revealing some freakishly white and incredibly sharp teeth. “ _Snaaaack_ ,” it cooed. Its prehensile tail lifted Peepers into the air, dangling him over its mouth. So this was how it ended. Trapped on a planet; the Skull Ship crew not even caring enough to remember him, and stupid Sylvia running like a coward as soon as she’d seen trouble. Peepers closed his eyes and hoped it would at least end quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Then there was a cry, a warrior’s call, and the creature’s tail loosened its grip enough that Peepers was free – but now he was falling. A pair of strong arms caught him, and he dared to open his eyes. The jungle was a blur as whoever caught him ran far from the creature. He peered over a blue shoulder to see the simian in hot pursuit.

A blue shoulder?

“I thought you ran away.”

“Please, back down from a challenge? I just needed a good running start to ram into that thing. I mean, it’s huge!”

“Yeah, well…”

“You can struggle through thanking me later. We have to run. Do you have one of those laser guns on you?”

“Um… No?” It was embarrassing, really – Peepers was usually so prepared. But he really thought he’d only be on the planet briefly, and it had seemed so benign.

“Oh, what are the flarf-narbling odds?!” Sylvia cursed.

“About the same as your stupid little banjo-buddy not having shown up to save you yet!” Peepers argued, if only to get the focus off of his blunder.

Sylvia sighed. “No, we can’t rely on Wander. I’m sure he’s still asleep – guy was up all night trying to help some old lady get her pet Arctoo out of a tree,” she panted, beginning to zigzag as she ran. Peepers could see that they were starting to get some distance on the creature. That was good. But wait…

“That took all night?”

“Yeah, the Arctoo had apparently set up a nest up there, so Wander had to help those guys hatch and  learn to fly, and – Is this really important right now?!”

“Right!” Peepers looked around. They needed some sort of plan… He noticed one tree, old and dying, had been overgrown with vines. Those could be the answer. “Okay, stop!”

“What?”

“Just trust me!”

Sylvia skidded to a halt, and Peepers leapt down and ran over to the tree, waving for Sylvia to follow him.

“Okay, Sylvia, you grab that end and hold it tight! I’ll handle the rest!”

“You better be right about this!”

“I’m always right!” Peepers exclaimed, grabbing the other end of the vine as Sylvia followed his orders. The simian was catching up to them, and Peepers dodged into some bushes far away, pulling the vine taut. The creature tripped on it, and Peepers rushed to action, pulling the vine over and wrapping it around the simian’s legs. He wasn’t fast enough, though, and it started to get up. Sylvia realized what Peepers was going for, and climbed up the tree with her end of the vine, then jumped down, landing right on top of the creature’s head. Dazed, it fell back down to the ground, and Sylvia hurried over to finish tying the vines around its ankles.

“Is that going to hold it?”

“Long enough for us to get away!” Peepers cried, grabbing Sylvia’s hand and making a run for it. They didn’t look back until they’d made it through the jungle and back to the less heavily-forested area of the planet. It didn’t seem to have followed them.

“We still need to go back in there if we want any hope of finding an Orbble Tree,” Sylvia sighed. “This is just great.”

“Are you sure your weird friend isn’t going to come pick us up?” Peepers asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

“I left him a note, but he’s a heavy sleeper when he’s been up all night. Besides, he’ll have no idea when I left. We have to get out of this on our own.”

“Fine. I didn’t want to rely on him, anyway.”

“But relying on me is okay?”

“I just saved us from the monster, but _I’m_ relying on _you_?”

Sylvia opened her mouth for a retort, but… Well, he had a point. “Okay, you know what? We’ve always made a good team when we’ve worked together before. Maybe if we just stop trying to deny that, we can get out of here.”

Peepers hesitated. They _did_ make a good team, didn’t they? Still, he didn’t love the idea of admitting it. “Let’s just figure out what we’re doing next, okay?”

Sylvia sighed. Why did she even care if Peepers was willing to cooperate? She could just go looking for Orbble Juice herself, in all honesty, but… She’d feel bad if she ditched him. It was all Wander’s fault. She could hear him in the back of her mind: ‘Ya can’t just leave him behind, Syl! He may not want to be our buddy, but we know he’s not such a bad guy!’. Sylvia sat down, plopping herself into the grass. “Alright, what’s your bright idea now?”

“Well, that _thing_ has to sleep sometime. I say we wait for it to get dark, and then we go looking for an Orbble Tree.”

“We’ll barely be able to see,” Sylvia pointed out. Peepers shook his head.

“Oh, Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia. This is why it pays to do research! I happen to know this planet has four moons, and two of them will be full tonight. We’ll see just fine.”

“And in the meantime, we just wait?”

“Well… I guess so, yeah.”

“Fun.” Sylvia laid back in the grass. She hoped Wander would stay asleep instead of waking up and worrying. She’d just wanted to check out some of the fresh new planets, but maybe it had been a stupid idea.

Peepers watched Sylvia carefully as she lay in the grass. He was fairly certain he could trust her in this situation, but it never hurt to stay wary. She looked so worried, it was unusual for her. He suspected it was about Wander, who – if he was awake – was no doubt just as worried about Sylvia. He was fairly certain that if _Lord Hater_ had noticed _his_ absence by now, it was only because he needed Peeper’s assistance with something. It was fine. They had a professional relationship, which was more important than a friendship.

“Any idea how much longer until nightfall?” Sylvia asked, breaking Peepers away from his thoughts.

“Oh…” Peepers checked the position of the sun; did some quick math. “We’ve got an hour or two.”

Sylvia sat up. “Well, I’m bored, already. I think I’d rather take my chances with the monster.”

“There are other solutions to that problem,” Peepers pointed out, almost instinctively.

“Yeah? Like what?”

Okay, maybe he hadn’t thought that one through. What _could_ Sylvia do to keep herself occupied? “…We could talk.”

“You and me. Talk?” Sylvia tilted her head to the side. ‘An enemy is just a friend you haven’t made yet’, she could hear Wander saying. “…Sure. What’s up?”

“That’s the best you can come up with? You know what’s up with me, it’s the same thing that’s up with you.”

“Wow, you’re a great conversationalist,” Sylvia deadpanned. “Let’s try that again, shall we?”

“Fine, but ask a better question this time.”

Sylvia glared at Peepers. “Fine. If you were on the Skull Ship right now, what would you be doing?”

“Hmm.” Peepers sat down on a small rock. “I’d be making rounds about now, actually. Making sure everyone is doing their job correctly.”

“Uh-huh.”

“They never are, you know.”

Sylvia laughed. “That’s not really a surprise.”

“Even Lord Hater’s back to being distracted by Wander all the time. Well, you know that.”

“Yup.”

“Yup,” Peepers repeated. Oh, this was going so well.

“So why do you stick around?” Sylvia asked. Peepers blinked.

“I…” Loyalty to everyone on the ship? Affection for Lord Hater? A desperate hope that someday things would turn around and they’d all get their act together? None of those were things he wanted to provide as an answer to Sylvia. “I have my reasons. Why do you care?”

“I didn’t say I _cared_ , but come on, you have to admit it’s strange to see someone like you staying with a group of guys like all of them.”

“Maybe so, but it’s still none of your business.”

Sylvia sighed. “These couple of hours are just going to fly by, aren’t they?”

“Oh, please, like you’d react so well if I started asking you a bunch of personal questions.”

“Try me,” Sylvia countered, never one to back down from a challenge.

“Well... Alright, let’s start with this. How’d you meet the freak?”

Sylvia’s nostrils flared. “I met _Wander_ when he was watching the Galactic Conjunction 6000 one year. I used to race in it.”

Peeper, who had been fiddling with his gloves, looked up at Sylvia. “You raced in the Galactic Conjunction 6000?”

“Yeah, for years.”

“Were you any good?” Peepers asked. Sylvia shrugged. “So that’s a no.”

“I was _fine_ , okay?”

“See, now _you’re_ getting all testy,” Peepers pointed out. “Look, let’s face it, we’re better off not talking.”

Sylvia supposed he was right. She lay back down, and eventually drifted off to sleep. She woke up to a voice hissing her name.

“Wander, hon, give me five more minutes.”

A pause. _Hon_? “Sylvia, it’s me, Peepers.”

“Oh! Oh, right, right!” Sylvia got up. It was definitely nighttime, but Peepers had been right – the moons’ light made things still visible on the planet. “Come on, let’s go.”

“And let’s be quiet about it. After all, we’re not sure our _pal_ from earlier is actually asleep.”

The two snuck back into the jungle, and began to slip through the trees in search of one that would produce Orbble Juice. It was harder than they’d thought – in the strong moonlight, everything had a silvery sheen.

“So,” Peepers began quietly as he prodded a tree, hoping it would have some elasticity. Unfortunately, it was hard as any normal tree. “You and Wander, huh?”

“Oh, uh…” Sylvia turned away so Peepers couldn’t see her blush. “Yeah.”

“When we first met you guys, I assumed you were already a couple.”

“Okay…”

“But then I realized he was totally oblivious.”

“Wait, what?” Sylvia craned her neck to look at Peepers.

“I’ve always known you liked him.”

Sylvia blinked. “Oh, wow. Seriously?”

“Yup.” Peepers moved on to another tree. His voice was oddly devoid of emotion as he spoke about all this. “And I knew he liked you. I just didn’t understand why you weren’t really together. But I guess a lot of people are totally oblivious like that.”

Sylvia narrowed her eyes at him. What did he mean by that? Who else was ‘totally oblivious’?

Ah.

“You could do better, you know.”

“What?”

“Than Hater. You could do better. And hopefully you’re not so infatuated that you don’t realize that’s a compliment.”

Peeper’s spine stiffened, but he knew Sylvia meant well. It actually was kind of nice to hear that, because it didn’t look like anything would happen between him and Hater any time soon.

“Um, w-well…”

“You can struggle through thanking me later,” Sylvia whispered, using the phrase for the second time that day. She winked at Peepers, who just glared at her and moved on to the next tree. Frustrated due to his embarrassment, he punched this one rather than poking it, and there was a surprising amount of give, and then the tree seemed to push back. Peepers eye lit up.

“I found one!”

Sylvia rushed over and tore a few leaves from the braches of the small tree. “Nice work,” she allowed. Peepers said nothing, and Sylvia elbowed him. Well, elbowed the lightning bolt atop his helmet. The height difference made getting his ribs kind of hard. “Oh, come on, today wasn’t that bad, and you know it.”

“You’re insane,” Peepers muttered, straightening out his helmet. Sylvia tore the leaves opened and let the fluids inside drain into the Orbble Juice bottle. “You know how to work an Orbble Bubble?”

“I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Sylvia figured he was probably right, and with a wave of the bubble wand, encompassed Peepers in a bubble, before doing the same for herself. “I’m sure I’ll see ya around,” she said, waving at Peepers.

“Yeah, Sylvia. I’ll see you. And… Thanks.”

Sylvia was heading back to the planet she left Wander on when another Orbble Bubble caught her eye. Had Peepers gotten lost and come for help? But… No, there was clearly someone _orange_ inside that bubble. Sylvia charged for Wander, causing their Orbble Bubbles to merge as the two hugged.

“Gee, Syl! I woke up in the afternoon and got your note, but ya didn’t say which planet you’d be on! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“Oh, sorry, Wander. I wasn’t sure exactly where I’d end up, and I didn’t think I’d run out of Orbble Juice, that’s for sure.”

“You ran out of Orbble Juice? Then how are you – ”

“It’s a funny story, actually.” She bent her neck down to kiss Wander. “I think you’ll really like it.”

It took Peepers a while to find the Skull Ship, but not _too_ long – it was a fairly large ship, after all, with a unique design. One of the Watchdogs must have seen him floating by, because the mouth of the ship opened up, allowing Peepers to float inside.

“Peepers!” Lord Hater roared the moment he did so. “Where have you been? My stereo has been on the fritz _all day_!”

“That… Is certainly unfortunate, Sir, but I _did_ find a planet perfect for conquering!”

“Ooh, did you?” Lord Hater went from angry to interested in an instant. “Well, show me on the big map, then!”

“Of course.” A beat, and then. “So you noticed I was gone when your stereo stopped working?”

“No, I noticed you were gone when it was too quiet.”

Peepers’ pupil went large. “Really, Sir?”

“Yeah, it was kinda _weird_ to not have you bugging me to get stuff done all day. What were you doing instead, anyway?”

Peepers paused to consider the proper way to answer that. How to explain what he’d been up to?

“I just had to meet up with a friend,” he said softly. Lord Hater laughed.

“You don’t have _friends_.”

“No, you’re right,” Peepers agreed, “but maybe someday.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is now a series that I am REALLY going to aim to complete, featuring a post-canon arc wherein Wander and Sylvia befriend Hater and Peepers.


End file.
